Gilbert Strang is a professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his research focuses on analysis, linear algebra and PDEs. In addition, he is the author of many textbooks and his service to the mathematics community is extensive, having spent time as President of SIAM, Chair of the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics as well as membership of various other committees and boards. The awards that Professor Strang has received for his research and teaching include the Chauvenet Prize (1976), the Award for Distinguished Service (SIAM, 2003), the Graduate School Teaching Award (MIT, 2003) and the Von Neumann Prize Medal of the U.S. Association for Computational Mechanics (2005), among others. He is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford.